"The teachers are pleased with the contract," said Curtis House, the union's chief negotiator. "We are also pleased that the negotiations are over without interrupting the instructional day of the students."

The district's 140 teachers will receive base raises of 3.75 percent in the first year of the contract and 3.25 percent compounded in each of the next three years, said Cliff Dahlgren, a member of the union's negotiating team.

The district has 1,639 pupils in kindergarten through 8th grade in four schools. Teachers have been working without a contract since Aug. 23, when their five-year contract expired.

Health-care premiums will stay "pretty much the same" as will hospitalization co-payments, said Dan Gilbert, chairman of the math department at Old Orchard Junior High School.

"We ended up with a reasonable contract, no great gains in salary but no cuts in benefits," he said. "It is a fair and equitable solution that isn't going to bankrupt the district."

The district also agreed to cover 60 percent of tenured teachers' tuition for relevant courses, up from 50 percent, Dahlgren said.

Another issue in the negotiations, class sizes, will remain a matter of board policy rather than a negotiated contract item, Dahlgren said.

Noting that parents had urged the board to settle, Gilbert said, "By the end of this, I think they felt the pressure of the community."

Under the expired contract, teacher salaries averaged $59,000 and ranged roughly from $36,000 to $85,000, depending on education and experience, officials said.

At the end of the new contract, the salary range will be $41,102 to $91,226.

Lila Ardell, a 1st-grade teacher at Devonshire School, said this was the first time District 68 teachers have used collective bargaining.

In the past, salary increases were determined by a formula based on those given in similar districts, she said.

"Often, we just relied on the trust of our administrators to be providing us with the best salary and benefits," she said.

"Somewhere along the way, the trust we had relied upon with the board and the administration and teachers broke down," Ardell said.